11 Mar 2020

Police in Serowe are investigating an incident in which an eight-year old boy of Malatswai Primary School died after falling into a septic tank on Sunday.

Station commander, Superintendent Poloko Oteng said in an interview that they received a report from the school matron that a pupil fell into the septic tank while playing with others at the hostel.

He said the police, with help from the public, managed to retrieve body of the boy who hails from Khwee.

Superintendent Oteng said the boy was taken to the hospital where he was certified dead. 

The station commander pleaded with those left with children especially in the school environment to ensure that they covered all the holes and openings to avoid accidents.   

Councillor for Malatswai, Mr Benard Kenosi, said no child should meet such a tragic end, expressing disappointment that despite reporting faults to the relevant office at the council, nothing was done. 

He said he was worried because the pupil fell into a manhole whose cover slid opened. 

Mr Kenosi said he had observed that the lid, which was used to cover the manhole was too light and could not have been the right standard.

Councillor Kenosi  said a heavy duty cast iron could have been used instead. 

He said cast irons were heavy and difficult for unauthorized people to remove them.

He urged council authorities to attend to the defects at the school urgently before another accident could happen.

Mr Kenosi said unblocking of the toilets and removing grass which covering the septic tanks could have been attended to because they were easy to carry out. 

He said the water bill was always high at the school because of the leakages.

Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Kebeemang Dikapolelo, expressed disappointment because the accident could have been avoided. 

He said they recently relayed their concerns to their Member of Parliament during a kgotla meeting.

He said council authorities also visited the school to see what they were talking about. They promised to  urgently attend to the situation at the school, but nothing was done. 

He said the school did not have care takers who stayed with pupils.

Mr Dikapolelo said the toilets at the hostels were not working and pupils were forced to relief themselves in the bush and this posed danger to them.

He said it was better for the council to do what it should do to make sure that the school was renovated as a matter of urgency. 

Efforts to talk to the Serowe Sub-Council public relations officer proved futile because the office was not ready to talk to the media. Ends